fade to black | james hetfield [1]

six

chapter six: double down

Iris wouldn't stop overthinking about her last interaction with James. The guilt continued to eat away at her days later, her mind going back and forth on whether or not it was okay to trust James.

She said she would never decide to call him, but as she glanced at the napkin that had James's number written on it, she considered going through with it.

She put his number into the phone, taking a deep breath before clicking call. There was no reason why she should feel nervous to speak to someone, but her social skills had never been the best.

The phone continued to ring as she held it up to her ear. She was about to hang up, but then some shuffling could be heard in the background.

James sounded like he was doing something on his end of the line before speaking. "Hello?" Iris froze, panic setting in. She wasn't expecting him to answer.

She had no choice but to speak now. "Hi James, it's Iris..." She said quietly. She was nervous about what he might say to her in the next couple of minutes. What if he was still mad about their conversation at the bar? What if he didn't want to speak to her anymore?

James wasn't expecting to hear from her, but he was glad that she was coming back around. He completely forgot about leaving her the napkin with his number on it. "Oh, hey Iris, what's up?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to see how you were doing..." She muttered, closing her eyes in embarrassment as she wondered how pathetic she sounded to James right now.

"I'm doing alright," He replied. "Are you okay?" He asked. He wasn't trying to come off as invasive by asking about her well-being, but it didn't sound that way.

There was a long silence over the phone and Iris questioned if she should just hang up the phone and act like this conversation never happened.

James spoke up again, the line sounding as if it went dead. "Iris, are you still there?"

"Yeah." She replies, biting her bottom lip. Her mind was going a million miles an hour, trying to figure out what to say.

There was another long silence. James didn't know what to say and neither did Iris. The sound of shuffling on both ends of the line was the only sign that the call was still connected.

"Do you want to hang out later?" Iris suddenly asked. She said the first thing that came to mind, desperate to say anything and get off the phone.

"Yeah, sure," James agreed like it was nothing. "The usual spot?" He must've been referring to the dive bar. There was no other spot that they would "usually" hang out in.

"Y-Yeah." Iris stuttered.

"Okay cool. See you later."

There was a long silence on the phone again and Iris was getting tired of it, her mind automatically assuming James would be thinking the worst.

"Iris-"

"Okay, bye." She hung up quickly, slamming the phone down into the receiver. She let out an exasperated breath as if she had been running a marathon, relieved that it was finally over.

James heard the line click before he could even get his thought out, sighing. He was about to try and ask if she was doing okay, but maybe it would be better to ask when he saw her later.

Iris was sat in her usual spot, her leg bouncing up and down anxiously. She was mentally cursing herself for making plans in the first place. She could be at home curled up in bed right now.

Like he promised, James showed up. He gave a smile to Iris, sitting beside her at the bar as he ordered a beer.

Iris acknowledged his presence, but she didn't say anything. It was just like the phone call all over again, except now they were looking at each other and trying to figure out what the other was going to say.

Iris sucked her teeth and spoke first, getting the confidence to speak first. "James, I want to apologize for the way I acted the other night," She spoke, looking away for a bit. "I wasn't in a good mood."

She didn't need to apologize to him again, but he was going to accept it anyway. "Don't worry about it, Iris. You're still my friend." James shrugged.

James thought she would retaliate again, but he saw the corner of her mouth turn up a bit at the mention of being her friend.

She didn't say anything after that, simply changing the subject. She didn't want to dwell on the past and make things awkward between them anymore.

Iris was easier to talk to this time around and James was happy to see that. He wasn't going to bother asking for more details on why she wasn't having a good day, it wasn't his business. 

They sat there talking for hours. The time seemed to fly by and the two of them didn't even notice what time it was until the bartender interrupted their conversation.

"The bar's closing you dumbasses. You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here." The bartender spat, glaring at the both of them. 

James, on the other hand, laughed in his face, not taking his comment seriously. He turned to Iris, a grin on his face. "Wanna go back to my place then?"

Iris, enjoying her newfound friendship, nodded her head. "Let's go."